The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the exposure of consumers to billboard advertisements for the purpose of determining consumption, e.g., viewership. More particularly, the present invention provides a billboard advertisement consumption-measuring scheme that parallels efforts to measure audience consumption of radio and television broadcasts. Various techniques are disclosed for measuring the exposure of a consumer, whether in a vehicle or on foot, to a posted billboard or other external advertising means.
The present day consumer is almost continuously barraged by multiple advertising means. The proliferation of cable television channels, radio stations, web channels, and other electronic means is getting a lot of attention for the purposes of measuring audience reception.
There is, however, at least one channel that is not getting a great deal of attention for this purpose. This channel is that of billboards and other static visual advertising forms. Billboards are commonly posted externally, e.g., along roadsides, and on the exterior of buildings, for example, internally, e.g., in airports and train stations, and on mobile vehicles, e.g., busses.
In the past, the degree of consumer receipt of this media has been estimated by general correlation of demographic groups assumed to make up a traffic flow with traffic statistics. Any better measurement and refinement in the demographics has been deemed difficult and/or not cost effective.
The invention disclosed herein provides a practical and economical system for measuring the exposure (e.g., audience size) of consumers to specific billboards. The invention provides a system to resolve the time of consumer exposure to the billboard, to convey information in addition to a basic identification code if desired, and to consolidate the information of several consumers.